September 28, 2011 1:42 pm

Seattle Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry talked to reporters this afternoon about his recent demotion to second-team, outside linebacker. After being frustrated with the team’s decision last week, Curry said he’s accepted his fate, but still will continue to work hard to get back out on the field.

“I’m at peace,” he said. “I have a complete piece of mind right now. I’m feeling blessed. I’m taking this trial that I have and just capitalizing on it.

“Frustration was last week. I was a little caught off guard, so of course naturally my response was just to be frustrated. But I’m so at peace right now. I don’t know how to explain it to you.”

Curry went on to say he’s at peace because he’s leaned on his faith to help deal with the situation.

“I’m at peace because I know through Jesus Christ my savior that this trial is here for a reason,” Curry said. “And I’m going to gain something so much bigger from it than anything that we can explain.”

Curry explained how he felt on Sunday this way: “At the beginning, I was just kind of like, ‘Okay, I know my role, I’m going to go out there and do it.’ And towards the end, I was just pretty much in the same mindset. I had my role and I did it. I got some plays on defense, and I went out there and played. So I was kind of just there.”

Curry also talked about his interaction with fans on Twitter and the rumors swirling about him potentially being traded.

“Everybody was notifying me that I was in this situation of being on the trading block,” Curry said. “People were telling me – I mean these were fans from all types of teams – were telling me that I was on the trading block. So it was interesting just seeing everybody’s comments and being able to interact with people.

“My thing is, I don’t want to get on there and Superstar anybody. So when people say, ‘Hey, you would look good in this jersey,’ I laugh at them and say ‘Hey, that’s cool,’ next question and look to the next person.

Curry said that no one within the organization has told him he’s being shopped around the league.

“The people that make the decision on trades, signing and cuts, they haven’t called me or told me,” Curry said.

So does he expect to remain with Seattle?

“That’s in the hands of the people upstairs,” Curry said. “Whoever is making all of the roster adjustments and all that stuff – that’s up to them.”

And does Curry want to remain with Seattle next season?

“I want to be where I have the best shot to get better at my future,” Curry said. “And be able to contribute to a team’s success.”

Curry talked about the fact that the Seahawks have tried him at several different positions during his three-year tenure with the team, which at times has affected his development.

“The only time all the roles are tough when they’re all in the same game,” Curry said. “We had a game last year where I played SAM linebacker, off the ball, on the ball. I played nose tackle. I played defensive end. So I mean when it’s all that in one game, it’s a unique situation. But when we go into a game and we’re just playing off-the-ball, SAM linebacker, then it’s a lot easier than having to know each position on the defense.”

And he also addressed the reason for restructuring his contract earlier this season.

“It was an interesting proposal,” he said. “And it was kind of like, everything happens for a reason, and you don’t really know the reason behind everything. But I just took it and ran with it. If I was a money-hungry guy, I would’ve handled the situation differently, but I’m not. I’m about playing football, and I’m about winning.”

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Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

What a disingenuous S.O.B. Just dump his ass already. BTW, I wonder if Clay Matthews complains about lining up at Sam, on and off the line / ball and playing DE? All in one game! The horror. Or Ndamukong Suh being asked to play DT, DE, DT, again, in a single game! Look dumbbell, please just pack your sh*t and get the hell out of town.

“…it’s a lot easier than having to know each position on the defense.” Oh god no. That would mean he might have to actually pay attention in meetings. You know what Curry? If you played even one of the myriad of positions they’ve tried you at, at an even serviceable level, you might not get bounced around. They have so much money tied into him, of course they are trying everything under the sun to get any return.

It’s about the lack of accountablity. It’s somebody else fault, that he can’t stay on the field. If my job asks me to do many different things, then possibly I have some skill and have built up some trust. If I screw them all up, then is on my company for asking me to do multiple things, or is it my fault that I didn’t/couldn’t excel. I was argue that this is his job and he either wants to excel or he wants to count his money and move on. Accept responsibilty that you’re the reason you’re not on the field – if you’re at peace with that, then I’m glad we can cut ties with you after this year.

I don’t understand the hatred towards Aaron Curry. He is a tremendous physical specimen that doesn’t have good football instincts so he has limited effectiveness. He is a combine superstar that doesn’t use his elite athleticism effectively in the game. I saw good effort on special teams against the Cards, at one point forcing a fair catch on a punt. Curry is not mailing it in, and I for one am not going condemn him.

But do you really not get why people are upset with Curry? I think it has something to do with the fact that he is not good, we have paid him a lot of money, and he has shown an unwillingness to show any sort of contrition or accountability.

Always someone elses fault. These are lessons 5 and 6 year olds should be working on and Curry still doesn’t get it.

Tom – I wish I shared your view, but I have seen him mail it in and give questionable effort too many times. And it’s not simply a lack of instincts that hinders him, it’s his lack of discipline and absence of fundamentals. These are coachable and learned and correctable. He is as poor a tackler and takes as poor of an angle as he did the first game of his rookie year. Then there is the matter of his complains about the charter plane, walk throughs, being asked to play different positions, etc… combine all that and you have a very dislikeable player.

I have a Born Again friend who absolutely HATES this type of “everything happens for a reason” or “Trials Jesus is setting on me” attitude because it does what exactly a lot of you have been saying. Lack of accountability. I never really understood his point until now.

Whining about his roles AGAIN?! Curry brought it upon himself, look at the lies he spew before the draft so he could earn his UNDESERVED dollars:

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Curry said. “I have the ability to rush the passer on the outside and I have the strength to play on the inside in a 3-4. I think I can come in instantly and make an impact on anybody’s defense. My versatility as a linebacker will allow me to play in a 3-4, inside or outside; you can’t go wrong [with me].”

He’s cheated this franchise from day 1. What a FRAUD. Top non QB BUST in franchise history no doubt!!

I think most fans have been frustrated with Curry for quite some time but the real turning point where most fans became Curry haters happened when he started tweeting about how bad he has it and his complaints. He comes off as though he’s not appreciated and misunderstood or not used correctly, when in actually its his own fault for not knowing how to play L.B. and always being out of position.

Curry comes off has if the Seahawks owe hime something, when he well overpaid and hasn’t lived up to anyone’s expectations. Even if he were drafted in the 5th or 6th round he would be looked at as a underachiever.

I’m with you on this. Yes, he has not played anywhere near the level of where he was picked – absolutely agree. But I don’t agree that he doesn’t give full effort on the field, and he’s not been an off-the-field problem. So he’s written some annoying tweets, big deal.

His comments above seem like perfectly normal, sports cliche quotes, he’s been humbled, as he should be.

If he gets traded/released it will be because his level of play doesn’t match his salary, and Carroll is a very Darwinian coach, which is fine with me.

The reason people are pissed is that we endured a crap season to get a #4 overall, looked forward for months to at least adding one of the top players in the draft, then dude shows up and disappoints in just about every way he possible could, while tying up resources for other players who want it more.

Agree with Tompage’s comment. Haven’t seen what Duke has, just haven’t paid enough attention to AC’s on-field play. Wish I had access to videos of past games. Dissappointed by not getting HoF play from a high pick, but we’re not the only team who’s been dissappointed with their ’09 rd 1 picks. Don’t use twitter nor facebook, so don’t get upset by any comments found on them. Freedom of speech, unless they’re threatening to kill someone, I guess.

Don’t know AC’s heart, but assume he’s going through some stress after being highly acclaimed when drafted and now demoted. My team’s ex-GM’s apparent ‘mistake’ has caused embarrassment to AC. But if TR didn’t take him when he did I doubt he’d have fallen far, and he’d have been embarrassed by another team’s FO who would eventually have to admit their ‘mistake’.

AC has maybe been partially responsible for getting the rookie wage scale enacted, which might be seen as a silver lining. Per PFF through the 1st two games of this season, if you look at AC’s 4-3 OLB position in comparison to other 4-3 OLBs who have taken at least 50% of their team’s snaps, AC ranks 24th of 32 OLBs, while L.Hill ranks 15th. AC’s main weakness was in coverage where opposing QBs who threw to the fella that AC covered had a 88.9 C%, which gave that QB a 113.4 NFL QB rating. L.Hill’s coverage (thru the 1st 2 games) gave the QB a 75 C% and an 88.5 NFL rating. I haven’t seen Wright’s numbers from he AZ game yet, but think they might be better. This coming game vs Ryan will be a good test of our LBs coverage skills.

Reminds me of buying a decorated cake for a special occasion from the bakery of a large grocery store, instead of baking it yourself. Costs alot so you kinda expect it to be delicious, but it isn’t. Not that it tastes really awful, or anything, but it just doesn’t taste much at all.

“The reason people are pissed is that we endured a crap season to get a #4 overall, looked forward for months to at least adding one of the top players in the draft, then dude shows up and disappoints in just about every way he possible could, while tying up resources for other players who want it more.”

Yeah, I get all that – and agree with it all too. Just doesn’t make sense to me to start adding things to the story that aren’t really there.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Curry said. “I have the ability to rush the passer on the outside and I have the strength to play on the inside in a 3-4. I think I can come in instantly and make an impact on anybody’s defense. My versatility as a linebacker will allow me to play in a 3-4, inside or outside; you can’t go wrong [with me].”

He says right there that he’s versatile and can help anyone. Yet he bitches about being asked to do different things (i.e. be versatile) here…

“The only time all the roles are tough when they’re all in the same game,” Curry said. “We had a game last year where I played SAM linebacker, off the ball, on the ball. I played nose tackle. I played defensive end. So I mean when it’s all that in one game, it’s a unique situation. But when we go into a game and we’re just playing off-the-ball, SAM linebacker, then it’s a lot easier than having to know each position on the defense.”

Memo to Aaron Curry:

Which one is it? Are you willing to be versatile or do whine about it? Which is it? Just let us know. Or are you going to say one thing in a quote and whine about the same thing in a tweet?

AC’s problem is not physical. It’s mental plain and simple. He is basically just very immature mentally. I think that is why he has difficulties, especially playing more than one position. He just doesn’t have the capacity to pick it all up, and then he makes matters worse with his emotional responses during games that result in penalties.

In simple terms he is a MENTAL MIDGET. Trade him to the Dream Team for a late round pick and move on.

It’s not just mental, it’s also physical. Curry has the worst hips I’ve ever seen in an NFL player. He simply can’t change direction at all without falling on his ass. Notice how our short coverage across the middle and in the flats have looked exponentially worse ever since Curry arrived to darken our defense? When you replace a true freak of nature like Julian Peterson with an overrated Workout Warrior, it’s no surprise.

At the point of his career that Julian Peterson was in though, he was clearly in decline and I think we got rid of him at the right time. Of course, I always had a bias against him b/c I (unfairly) viewed him as a knee-jerk (emphasis on Ruskell being a jerk) reaction to sign

…ing him the same day that Ruskell chose not to match the Hutch offer. For the record, does anyone think we would have released Hutch by now? All we had to do was guarantee his contract (I could care less if “other” teams didn’t do it “that way” or it wasn’t the norm). Next year is the last year of his 7 year deal and the Vikings haven’t released him yet.

To be fair about his pre draft quote, he was talking about a 3-4 defense (mentioned it by name multiple times) so…

Yes it’s extremely dissapointing that Curry has turned out to have the same level of impact as a late round guy would have. But that’s not his fault. The blame for this goes squarely on the shoulders of the Hawks decision makers. Even then, busts seem to happen to most teams so…

But his tackling and angles are fine as far as I’m concerned. He was a very sure tackler in his wake forest video. He was in position to intercept that pass at Pitt but he dropped it. so what. Polamalu dropped a pic in that game too. it happens. No reason to hate this guy at all. If you don’t like what he says on twitter than ignore it. It has NOTHING to do with football. He has every right to say what he wants. And he definitely is not mailing it in and hasn’t at any point that I can recall. In fact most people commenting here and on other hawk blogs were pleased with Curry’s play so far.

Still love how you dopes think you know someone and determine your views of a team based on the filtered crap you read from the media and your pompus armchair observations.

You do not know these players, they are not “one of the guys”, they are so far from you in so many ways it’s insane – financially, socially, racially – that you have no clue. But you randomly assign Tatupu a great guy or Curry a useless bum based on play, of which you do not understand nor even have the proper tapes to review.

Tatupu is my pal! Fragileback was the best! Curry is the devil! Blah, blah, blah. Still love to read it because it is far more entertaining than TV.

Wow. You guys are hating on some Curry. Sorry fellow Hawk fans, but don’t over do it. Something to remember is COMEPETE and that is what is happening here. Wright is 6’4″ with an 80 inch wingspan and is playing well, so this isn’t ALL about Mr. Curry. The front office is using this as an opportunity to see what the rookie can do and give our 4th overall draft pick a reality check. He is under performing that is for sure, you would expect an impact, pro bowl type player for a top 5 selection. I remember there was speculation of him going #1… a LB??? I think AC is starter material but heard that Norton Jr. said he wasn’t pleased with Curry in our system. Then I heard about the contract restructure and figured it out. But the last straw was when they drafted Wright so high, the bottom line is you don’t draft that high for a back up/ST. Wright shouldn’t be starting so soon, but his strong play has caught the attention of the coaching staff leaving an overpriced, under performing, but decent LB at peace along with watching “them” win a do or die home opener from the sidelines. As much as I like being patient to see the drama if AC can reach his “potential” and not make ACIB’s dream come true, Carrol put the nail in the coffin with his remarks.

In show biz we call it the “IT” factor and clearly Curry doesn’t have it. You don’t pay that much for a starter, you do it for a superstar. The 2009 draft was a bad year for us finally getting a top 5 pick, everyone talks about who we “should” have gotten, but trading down would have been the best option with how deep the LB pool was; Orakpo, Cushing, and Matthews still on the board. A reason I like the dynamic duo over our former GM, the ability to make trades during the draft. Schneider letting everyone know our #1 pick was an option for a trade was genius by setting up a reputation and trading down to get Moffitt was another great move. So, if or when Curry is no longer a hawk, that leaves eight players drafted/brought in by Ruskell:
Unger is the lone starter on the O
Heater, Hill, Mebane, and Big Red starting on D
Obo, Forsett, and Ryan are the other three.
IF we are going to give Ruskell ANY credit, he did pretty well with evaluating the defense outside of his 1st round strike outs.

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